Unit 9 - Spreadsheet Development

Welcome to Unit 9: This unit is about understanding the uses of spreadsheets, designing, testing, and reviewing your own spreadsheet. This means that me as a student must know how to use Excel as well as how to review and create spreadsheets. Having these skills is useful in a work setting in nowadays society. This is because spreadsheets are used in lots of jobs, especially when dealing with money such as banks but they indeed can be also used in a GP practice, hotel reception and so many other places!

Some of the content in this unit is about learning what a spreadsheet is, how and why they are used, as well as the features of spreadsheet software as mentioned above. We learned different types of spreadsheets such as Google and Excel spreadsheets but we focused more in depth in Excel spreadsheets. In the topic of how and why spreadsheets are used, we learnt about how spreadsheets help companies to analyze data, present information, and perform calculations, benefits and drawbacks of spreadsheets. This means that I could help a company with their spreadsheets as I know how to use and understand Microsoft Excel but I have to mention that I also had prior knowledge about spreadsheets, which made the whole journey of this unit a lot easier for me. 

The unit is assessed through assignments, unlike Unit 1 & 2 which are exam-based. For example, I have completed 2 Tasks for this unit. 

Task 1:

In this task I was told beforehand to design some products on a website and see their prices because the task required us to later on put them on a spreadsheet. When the lecturer gave us the actual assignment we were assigned to thing of an imaginary Grand Opening Evening and plan everything on a spreadsheet the same way we would do if we were to sell those products on that day during the evening. 

For my Grand Opening, I started it off with a website named “TeamShirtsWizard” which is the website our lecturer suggested so I could design the products that I had already planned on selling. I designed them, but for each of the design there was a cost of £7, which means, if I had a product designed with a logo on 4 sides (left; right; front, back), just the overall design would cost me £28. But that was just for the designs and each product itself with no design added to it had its own price, which varied. 

From this point, for each of the products, through the website, I got a total on how much a single product would cost with the design price added to it, and I could also see the price breakdown in detail. I made a spreadsheet so I could plan and keep track of everything in a more accessible and better way. 

In the spreadsheet, I listed the types of products like T-shirts, Shorts, Caps, Water Bottles, and Tote Bags, along with their prices before adding the logo. Then, I added columns to show the total cost of each product after adding the logo, breaking down the costs for the front, back, right, and left sides. I also included a column for the selling price of each product and added it all up. To make things easier, I used the spreadsheet again to calculate the total cost of logos and my profits. I subtracted the total price it costs me to buy all the products from the selling price to find my profit. And I used a simple formula to see if customers spending over £100 would get a discount. 

This was a way to test my abilities and prove to my lecturer or any future employee that I am capable of managing, creating, reviewing a spreadsheet in every scenario possible. I think that I’ve given my best on this spreadsheet as every friend of mine or even the lecturer gave me a positive feedback about it.

Task 2:

In my opinion, on this task I had more of an easy job to do. The few things left required me to:

• Create a document showcasing all of my work.

• Describe in detail every step I've taken to create the spreadsheet.

• Get feedback from peers/classmates

• Give a justification about the changes I've made based on the feedback given from the classmates.

• Create an online video where I explain my spreadsheet and provide a watchable link for it

I think Task 2 might not be the same for everyone and some can even struggle when doing it, but I can assure everyone that for as long as you know what you have done in your Task 1 and have properly finished it, the only thing left is to explain what you have done the same way as you would be explaining it to a friend and its done.

Unit Overall Grade: Distinction*